Venezuelan students carry pictures of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a gathering in show of support for Chavez in Havana yesterday.
Reuters/Havana
Ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had cancer surgery in December, is doing much better and recovering, Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in remarks published yesterday.
Chavez, whose country sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has not been seen or heard from since his December 11 operation in a Havana hospital - sparking much speculation about his fate.
The 58-year-old is “much better, recovering,” Castro said of his friend and ally in comments carried by the official Granma newspaper.
“It has been a strong struggle but it has been improving,” he said, adding: “We have to cure him. Chavez is very important for his country and for Latin America.”
Castro, 86, also told reporters before voting in Cuba’s parliamentary elections on Sunday that he gets a daily update on Chavez’s condition.
Chavez was too sick to attend his own inauguration January 10 to a six-year term, prompting the government to indefinitely delay the swearing-in under an interpretation of the constitution that was slammed by the opposition.